1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic system for registering product transactions. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electronic registration system which facilitates compliance with return policies and is useful in reducing improper or fraudulent product returns under warranty.
2. Related Art
Manufacturers and retailers of consumer products often have a standard return policy. For example, a retailer return policy might allow a consumer to return a purchased product for any reason within a certain number of days (e.g., 10 days) after purchase. Additionally, a manufacturer's warranty may permit return of defective products within a particular time period (e.g., 90 days) after purchase, and provide for repairs of defective products within a different time period (e.g., 180 days). Repairs of products after that date would be the responsibility of the consumer. Such return policies are intended to ensure consumer satisfaction while protecting the manufacturer and/or the retailer from improper returns. As a result, a delicate balance must be maintained between protection of the retailer or manufacturer and consumer satisfaction.
Unfortunately, it is often difficult to monitor product returns to ensure proper compliance with a return policy. For example, a consumer who received a product as a gift usually will not have a sales receipt. In such a situation, an uninformed decision must often be made to accept the return or not. If the return is not accepted, the consumer might unfairly be denied a proper return, and the retailer and the manufacturer risk suffering a loss of goodwill. On the other hand, if the return is accepted, the retailer and/or the manufacturer will incur expenses or losses which might be unwarranted. Some retailers seek to minimize the effect of possible improper returns by limiting a consumer to store credit (rather than a refund) or exchanges on items returned without a receipt. This alternative, however, may be unacceptable to a consumer and does not completely eliminate the retailers' exposure to improper returns.
Difficulties associated with returns made without a receipt stem primarily from the inability of the retailer to obtain purchase information (such as sales date, place of purchase, etc.) concerning the individual item for which a return is sought. Without such information, it is usually impossible for the retailer to determine whether the return is in compliance with the return policy.
In addition to the foregoing, fraudulent returns can cost product retailers and manufacturers significant sums of money. As an example, upon release of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES), Nintendo experienced a high volume of returns of basic NES hardware. When the returned products were evaluated, it was discovered that a high percentage of the products were not defective and, in fact, were several years old. Thus, customers were abusing the retailer's return policy to exchange old products and upgrade to the new system. Such abuses increase costs to the retailers and manufacturers. These costs are often passed on to purchasers without any attendant benefit to legitimate consumers.
Prompt and efficient handling of returns and proper enforcement of return policies helps to keep down costs while maintaining consumer confidence and satisfaction. However, efforts to speed handling or improve enforcement lose their value if the expense of those efforts outweighs the accompanying benefit. Accordingly, such efforts must be efficient to benefit the manufacturers, retailer and the consumer.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system which facilitates authorized product returns yet reduces the incidence of unauthorized returns. Additionally, there is a need for a registration system which minimizes costs associated with returns, improves retailer efficiency in handling product returns, increases overall customer satisfaction, and provides retailers with immediate access to purchase data information. It is a primary object of the present invention to satisfy these needs. A further object of the present invention is to enable retailers to more effectively enforce retailer and/or manufacturer return policies, even in situations in which the product was received as a gift or when the customer no longer has the sales receipt.